


brother (if you have the chance to pick me up?)

by hollow_city



Series: constant game of falling short [4]
Category: Batman (Comics), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe, Autistic Keith (Voltron), Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Implied/Referenced Torture, Light Angst, Reunions, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 13:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20621885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollow_city/pseuds/hollow_city
Summary: damian makes a dumb decision and needs somebody to save him. luckily, keith just so happens to be in that corner of the universe.or, two brothers come together again.





	brother (if you have the chance to pick me up?)

**Author's Note:**

> lmao this is goddamn frankenstein's monster, isn't it. this is made up of like... three works that were supposed to be separate but now they're all stitched together into this nightmare. i'm so sorry. (the title is from brother by gerard way, feel free to listen while you read)

Damian's well aware that he has made a bad choice. When he was concocting this plan it had seemed like a fantastic idea but now that he's here, he feels the same kind of regret and distant fear that comes every time he falls for one of the Joker's or Riddler's or Scarecrow's traps. 

Except these aren't Gotham's rogues that have him shackled in a dark, cold room. No, these are giant, purple, bipedal, alien cats. The very thought would have otherwise made him scoff in mild amusement, but he's been in this room for three days already, and it isn't funny anymore. 

It stopped being funny when they sent in a cloaked alien who prodded at his mind until he swore he was about to let his defenses slip. And it hurt. The migraine still lingers even twenty-four hours later. He has tried to lock away the pain and ignore it like he's been taught, but the bright white lights right above him won't let him. 

"You are strong," an alien rumbles. "An admirable quality."

Damian stares up at him, eyes narrowed. The light flickers overhead and he has to work to suppress his flinch. His mask would be able to block out the glare of the lights, but unfortunately, his mask was the first thing to go when they captured him. 

When they brought down the ship he'd stolen from the Watchtower, they had stripped him of his mask, boots, and gauntlets, hardly flinching when the armor sparked violently from the engaged security systems. Of the things they took from him, though, he misses his boots the most.

These imbeciles apparently place no value in having working heating systems, because Damian's toes ache with how frigid they are. 

Although he supposes a species covered in fur wouldn't be too concerned about something like that. 

And, oh, the alien is talking again.

"However," he continues, "in an enemy, such a trait presents a greater challenge."

He steps forward and hunches his wide shoulders to bring himself closer to Damian's face. His mouth curls into an unsettlingly wide smile that puts his massive fangs on full display.

"But that is no problem," he sneers before puffing out his chest and turning his nose up at Damian. "A Galra never backs down from a challenge."

Galra? Is that what their species is called? This is the first time Damian has received any information about them. Until now, the only things he had known about them was that they're aliens, and they want to know who he is.

"We will break you, human," the Galra snarls. "And you will tell us everything we want to know about Voltron."

Voltron? They think he knows something about Voltron? 

"I know nothing of the sort," Damian snaps.

The Galra just laughs. "Yes, you would say that, wouldn't you? No matter, we will break you soon enough."

If they bring back the telepath, Damian distantly fears that they might. 

-

It had been a fairly normal mission when it began. The Castle picked up a distress call from a planet fairly far away from them, but once they received it again, and again, and again, it was abundantly clear that whoever was sending it was absolutely desperate. 

The only problem? The planet is situated much too close to Earth for comfort. Now, _close_, in the grand scheme of things, isn't actually all that close. But given the size of the universe they've traversed so far, it was _close_. 

But they couldn't ignore the distress call, so they responded.

They sent in Green and Blue to check it out, but what Pidge and Lance found made the green paladin lose their lunch. 

They'd been summoned to a _prison planet_. The whole planet was filled with imprisoned people who were being punished by a vicious crew of Galrans. The whole thing was vile and painful to watch. 

"What's the plan?" Lance asks once they've reconvened on the bridge. "We can't just let this keep happening."

Allura looks affronted at the idea. "Of course not!" She pulls up a grainy image of a massive Galra. "Here, this is the Galra in charge. She's notorious for never losing a single battle in her life."

"So we're gonna go all out, then?" Pidge asks, still looking slightly green. "I'm good with that."

Allura hums thoughtfully. "I don't think that would be the wisest course of action. She has many soldiers, some of which are residents of the planet they have taken over. Whether they support her or not is highly debatable, so it may be in our best interest to take a more indirect approach."

"Send a couple of us in. The rest can hang back and come in if they need to," Shiro suggests, his voice so carefully calm that Keith almost doesn't notice the vein twitching in his forehead. "Pidge and Keith, take Green, see if you can get inside their ship without being noticed."

Pidge nods along. "If we can get inside before they know we're even there, I can reprogram their ship, and then you guys can come in and take care of the rescue stuff."

Keith is the best of the five paladins when it comes to stealth, so he supposes it makes sense to send him in with Pidge.

It won't be too bad, he thinks. 

-

This is very bad, Damian thinks. 

They've sent in the witch, which he's learned is referred to as a _druid_, two more times, and the last time, she managed to get his name without him opening his mouth a single time. It's infuriating and it's wreaking havoc on his brain. 

He's not even sure what else she managed to grab from his memory. 

After that, they sent the big, burly Galra back in, and he hit him hard enough in just the right places to leave Damian shaking from the pain. 

Every beat of his heart pulses through his head like someone's taking a hammer to it, but they've left him alone for now, so at least he doesn't have to listen to any of the main guard's mindless drivel anymore. 

Disregarding the constant whirring of the ship's systems and the distant sound of an alien walking past the room every now and then, it's almost peaceful.

And then a hellishly loud alarm starts blaring. 

-

"Okay, that could have gone better," Pidge says as they sprint down a hallway with Keith trailing behind them, both of their bayards drawn. 

"Yeah, I'd say so," Keith grits out as they duck down a different hall to avoid the blaster fire chasing them. "We're almost there, though, so at least we have that going for us."

"Glass half full kinda day?" Pidge asks, grinning despite the sweat dripping down their face and the Galran footsteps pounding uncomfortably close behind. 

"Not even close," Keith replies as they skid to a stop outside a door. "It's locked. You stay here, I'll lead them the other way."

"Yep," Pidge mumbles, already elbow deep in code.

"We're coming in," Shiro's voice crackles through the comms. "Allura says they're rounding up the prisoners, so they've definitely told everyone you're in there."

"Great," Keith breathes, his fingers tightening around his bayard. 

The two Galra that were chasing them have finally rounded the corner and Keith waits for them to get close enough before charging down a different hall. They seem to deem him more of a threat than Pidge because they completely disregard the Green Paladin and chase after him instead. 

It's not hard to lose them, considering Keith is at least two feet shorter than them and can fit into spaces they can't. He ends up ducking into a dark room and they run straight past. That’s alright. He wasn't really in the mood to fight anyway. 

The lights flick on automatically as he moves further into the room, revealing it to be some kind of office-type thing. It's pretty empty, save for a table, a chair, and a few random objects strewn here and there. 

Keith almost shuts the lights off and heads back for the door, but then his eyes catch on something green and sharp and very familiar. But that can't be.

He puts his bayard away, pulls his helmet off, and steps closer to the object. It's exactly what he thought it was, but it can't be _that_ one. Before he can reach for it, his foot hits something on the floor. A quick glance shows him a pair of boots that are bright green, steel-toed, and with laces running all the way up. 

There's no way. 

There are gloves, too. Bright green gloves with sharp protrusions that could easily slice through skin.

"No," Keith mumbles, crouching down to inspect them. There's no way in the world these belong to who he thinks they belong to.

He rises again and reaches for the mask. The green domino mask. Before all of his fingers can wrap around it, he's delivered a rather violent shock. Once he's done swearing a blue streak and clenching his fist, he pulls off a glove with his teeth and loops a finger under the mask to press against what he knows can't possibly be there.

Unbelievably, the mask makes a tiny clicking noise and the shocks cease. 

His fingerprint worked.

The security system is disabled. 

"Allura," Keith says as he frantically pulls on his helmet. He makes for the hallway, pulling his bayard. 

"Keith," she replies immediately. 

"You said the ship is mostly empty? That most of the Galra are still planetside?" he asks, trying to no avail to remember what the floorplan that Pidge pulled looked like. 

Allura hums in affirmation."There are only a few heat signatures showing on the ship aside from yourself and Pidge. Why? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, where are they in relation to me?" he asks, twitching anxiously. 

"Well, one is several doors to your left, two others are heading away from you, and most of the others are clustered around the hanger and control rooms," Allura says. "Shiro should be arriving shortly if you require assistance."

"I'm here," Shiro supplies, the sounds of metal hitting flesh barely translating through the comms.

"No, I'll be fine, stay with the prisoners," Keith says, breaking into a sprint for the room Allura had pointed him toward. 

"If you're sure," Allura says. 

Keith doesn't bother replying as he skids to a stop in front of the door. Blessedly, the door isn't locked, and it slides open when he slams his hand down on the button on the wall. He really hopes what he sees inside isn't going to be what he's thinking. 

Except it is.

And instead of an empty room, there is a body hanging from the wall, shackled by their wrists, chest, and ankles. 

And it isn't just any prisoner.

And it isn't an alien.

They've got his little brother.

Before the door can even close behind him, Keith has his helmet tossed to the side, his bayard closed, and tears burning in his eyes. 

"Damian!" he bursts, scrambling to a stop in front of the boy and looking around for a way to unlock the shackles. 

His baby brother's eyes squint open and his head lolls over so he can get a good look at the person in front of him. When he realizes who he's looking at, his eyes widen and his entire body thrashes. 

"Damian, stop!"

The words mean nothing to him, and Keith realizes he's going to have to cut him out of these if he's going to get him out in a reasonable amount of time. When he draws his bayard, Damian fights even harder, his mouth opened in a violent snarl and his face screwed up in fury. 

"How dare you!" Damian yells and Keith has no idea what he’s going on about, but he can't focus on that if he wants to cut through the shackles without hurting Damian. "Get away from me!"

Keith chokes up, but he doesn't stop cutting. When he's finally through the shackles, Damian drops, but Keith is there to catch him. Except Damian doesn't want that and he immediately plants his fist into Keith's armor where his solar plexus should be. Normally, it would drive the air straight from Keith's lungs, especially since Damian punches like somebody ten years older than he is, but with the armor, it does nothing more than push him back.

"Damian, wait, it's me! It's Keith!" he tries desperately as Damian launches into a full-blown attack. It's all revised versions of attacks Keith recognizes because he has nothing but slippery socks and no gloves. Not that attire has ever stopped Damian from successfully brutalizing somebody before.

But Damian doesn't listen and instead continues to come at him. Keith counters every attack, but he doesn't fight back, because he doesn't want to hurt his little brother. 

"Damian, it's okay," he says calmly, going for an entirely different approach. “You need to calm down, it’s just me.” 

Eventually, Damian's attacks slow, and the glaze of fear over his eyes fades. 

"Keith?" he mumbles, stopping completely when Keith has him held tight enough that he can't move without pulling a dirty move. "No. You cannot fool me."

A _hallucination_. Damian thinks he's _hallucinating. _

"Damian, listen to me. If I was a druid, would I be able to fight like I just did?" he asks, his mouth close enough to Damian's ear that he barely needs to speak up. 

Even if they managed to get into his head and fish for people close to him, they can never properly replicate their behavior. They've already had to deal with it before. And trying to replicate Bat-taught behavior? Even more unlikely.

"No," Damian breathes. "No. Keith...?"

Keith loosens his hold enough for Damian to spin around and the second they make eye contact, the boy bursts into tears. 

"You're r-r-real," he sobs hysterically and Keith has absolutely no clue what to do. He's never seen Damian cry before, let alone this intensely, and he doesn't know how to comfort people.

What would Dick do?

"I'm real," he whispers, wrapping Damian up into a tight hug. "I'm here." 

Damian surges against him and wraps around him like an octopus. 

Before Keith can bask in the fact that he's _holding his baby brother again_, footsteps sound outside the door and he can hear voices yelling from his discarded helmet. 

"Damian, I need you to let go for a second," Keith says, pushing gently when his brother won't let go. "I need to get my helmet."

Finally, Damian releases his hold, the sound of his deep breaths and vicious scrubbing at his cheeks filling the room. Keith snatches his helmet from the ground and draws his bayard before backing toward Damian. 

"Keith," Allura shouts desperately. 

"I'm here," he replies, letting Damian grab onto his arm like a limpet. "What's happening?"

"They're retreating to the ship, you have to get out of there right now," she tells him, an edge of fear in her voice. "Take the left out of the room you're in, head straight down the hall, take another left, Red's already heading to meet you."

"Got it," he says before closing his end of the comms. "Damian, we have to go. Right now."

Damian straightens up, taking the tone for the order that it is like any Bat would, and nods firmly. He's still sniffling and he's subtly favoring one leg, but he looks as composed as any Gotham vigilante would. 

"They took my mask," he says as they head for the door. 

Keith sighs. "I know. I saw it. Unfortunately, we can't go back that way, so you'll have to go without." 

"Your teammates-" Damian starts. 

"-are people I trust with my life. I know B makes a huge deal about secret ID's, but right now we don't have time for that," Keith says firmly. "I want you in front of me, and don't stop running unless I explicitly tell you to."

"Understood," Damian says, still glowering slightly from the news that he'll have to leave his gear behind.

After another moment to listen, Keith opens the door, sends Damian out, and books it after him. He hears shouts behind him but pays them no mind, zig-zagging through the hall toward the exit. 

They pass through an armory and Keith distantly wonders if he should grab an oxygen mask for Damian but ultimately decides that they're low enough in the atmosphere that he won't need it. 

"When we reach that door, you're gonna have to jump," Keith tells Damian, pointing to the door at the end of the hall. It's made of glass and reveals the open sky. "Just trust me."

And Damian does. 

When they reach the end of the hall, the door opens, and they jump out. Keith grabs onto Damian's hand to keep them together as they plummet towards the planet. 

"Why?!" Damian shouts over the roaring wing.

"Just wait!" Keith yells back, holding tighter. 

Just when he's starting to get nervous, a roar echoes through his mind and Red swoops across his line of vision. Her jaw drops open and she scoops the two of them up in a well-practiced maneuver before zooming off toward the Castle. 

Keith thumps against the back of the pilot's seat and Damian topples down on top of him. 

"The Galra are retreating," Allura informs him, the relief in her voice tangible. "The planet's leaders have already taken back control."

Now that the prisoners are free, there are no Galra hot on his tail, and he has no more immediate responsibilities, Keith slumps down on the ground and heaves a deep sigh. 

He must not be the only one who's exhausted because when he clutches onto Damian like he’s a giant teddy bear, the boy doesn't so much as whisper in protest. 

-

Now that he's thinking about it, Keith probably should have come up with a plan of action _before _they landed in the hanger. 

"That's a child," Lance says eloquently, staring at Damian, who stands beside and a little behind Keith like he's hiding. "Where did you get a child."

The others are openly staring, too, but then Shiro steps down from Black, lands eyes on Damian, and stumbles. 

"Keith?" he says, glancing back and forth between him and the younger Wayne. "What's going on?"

Keith glances back at Damian before reaching out to pull him up to stand beside him.

"Why is he," Hunk pauses, squinting, "why is he dressed like Robin?"

"That's Damian Wayne!" Lance bursts, pointing vigorously in the boy's direction. 

Keith clears his throat. 

"Alright," he drawls, hooking his arm around Damian's neck. His brother splutters as he's drawn into Keith's side and kept there. "This is my brother."

Dead silence.

Silence. 

More silence. 

_"What?!"_

**Author's Note:**

> google: how do you write endings
> 
> listen. i'm sorry 
> 
> thanks for reading :'))


End file.
